CineForm Discontinues Neo HDV

[David Taylor]

Brian, we have always provided full value for earlier purchases as credit towards upgrades. We'll do the same for those that purchase Neo Scene and want to upgrade later to Neo HD or Neo 4K.

[Brian Standing]

Excellent! I'm downloading Neo Scene as I write this! Thanks for the great product and service!

[Jon McGuffin]

Maybe this is a slightly off-topic question but in reviewing the NeoScene product page, I have a few questions..

#1) Does NeoScene include either HDLink or a similiar utility for capturing directly from my camera and encoding into a file? I always enjoyed encoding simultaneously in Cineform .AVI & .m2t at the same time.

#2) Does NeoScene have the ability to convert - during capture - my video from its native 1440 x 1080 HDV 59.97i footage into a true 1920x1080 30P cineform .avi material?

Jon

[Chris Barcellos]

Originally Posted by Chris Barcellos

Dave:

This Dell does have a TV card installed. I don't use it, and I just might pull it out, and uninstall any software, and see if that might be a problem. I'll let you know.

(OT: By the way, did a film for DVC15 using NeoHDV for pulldown removal with my HV20, shooting 24p, and FX1 with Cineframe24. Really came out pretty nice.)

Took Out the TVCard, and still can't get Scene to go. Out of curiosity, I tried Windows Movie maker--- same message about runtime shutting down program. However, I can capture HDV with HDVSplit, Vegas, as well as with HDLink through NeoHDV, except when I have some kind of linking or synching problem with the HV20. Anyone got any ideas. Only have a day left on the Scene trial.

[David Taylor]

Originally Posted by Jon McGuffin

#1) Does NeoScene include either HDLink or a similiar utility for capturing directly from my camera and encoding into a file? I always enjoyed encoding simultaneously in Cineform .AVI & .m2t at the same time.

Yes, it's the same interface but without as many features. For HDV sources you can capture and convert simultaneously, or else you can capture in one step and convert in a second.

Originally Posted by Jon McGuffin

#2) Does NeoScene have the ability to convert - during capture - my video from its native 1440 x 1080 HDV 59.97i footage into a true 1920x1080 30P cineform .avi material?

Neo Scene will not resample from 1440 to 1920. For resampling you'll need Neo HD.

[David Newman]

Originally Posted by Chris Barcellos

Took Out the TVCard, and still can't get Scene to go. Out of curiosity, I tried Windows Movie maker--- same message about runtime shutting down program. However, I can capture HDV with HDVSplit, Vegas, as well as with HDLink through NeoHDV, except when I have some kind of linking or synching problem with the HV20. Anyone got any ideas. Only have a day left on the Scene trial.

Sorry I don't have an answer, the fact that Window Movie Maker fails definitely points to a device driver issue outside of our control. As for the license about to expire, use a NEO HD trial to work though the issue -- their HDV capture interfaces are close enough if you don't use the extra features.

[Chris Barcellos]

Thanks, David. I will report back with any resolution.

[Jon McGuffin]

What, if any, compatability issues are out there regarding use of Sony Vegas Pro 8.1 and Vista 64-bit?

Jon

[David Newman]

Vegas 8.1 is not compatible with the 32-bit VfW codec. You need to use Vegas 8.0c.

[Jay Bloomfield]

Originally Posted by David Taylor

Hugh, you simply need to uninstall one before installing another. Don't deactivate anything, just uninstall.

This applies to testing the demo of NEO HD. You will have to activate, if you decide to purchase the upgrade from NEO HDV to NEO HD. Right? At least I had to do that, when I made the switch.

[David Taylor]

Originally Posted by Jay Bloomfield

This applies to testing the demo of NEO HD. You will have to activate, if you decide to purchase the upgrade from NEO HDV to NEO HD. Right? At least I had to do that, when I made the switch.

Yes, my instructions were for testing the demo. After purchasing the upgrade you have to activate Neo HD.

[Dave Stern]

Originally Posted by James Campbell

One small gripe (as 99% of the time I'm a huge Cineform fan): if I choose to not upgrade with Neo HD, I'm either stuck with a choice to not get future upgrades with Neo HDV or pay for an upgrade to a different product. I know it's petty, but it'd be nice to be able to switch over to the lower grade product without having to pay $69.

I agree. Even with the full credit for prior purchases, it seems to me the full credit is for the neoscene cross license, e.g. only $69, vs what was paid for the neo hdv.

And if there would have been a version 4 upgrade, then at least the product would have been supported, so if the choice was not to upgrade, it would have been an option later (even if more expensive) or at least support for the old version assuming it was on the same code base as the next release.

I am too a cineform fan, but somehow feel very let down by this.

I think a smarter cross-grade (really downgrade I think) policy that had a sliding scale based on purchase date, or just a smaller license fee, would have felt much more fair. If I am forced down into the lower product, then don't charge me much - I have already paid $$ to you and if I pay a small amount, will then be on the license path for the other product anyway, e.g. future upgrades.

I feel kind of stuck - not wanting to license for $69, but not wanting to upgrade either. So for the current situation, it's no new $$ for cineform, and I am stuck in a product that won't be supported - a lose / lose. If I had a more palatable downgrade, it would be $ for cineform, better for me, and I would be back on a supported / upgradable product path. or, a bigger discount off the upgrade to the neo HD, so it feels like a good value (vs. the $49 off which to be honest on a $250 upgrade while big, does not come across as any real deal, b/c we will still have to pay for upgrades to that).

So, despite wanting to like cineform, it just feels a bit like a bit of a slap to prior paying customers, who probably helped fund the development of the new stuff (maybe).

[Simon Dean]

Can I cross-grade from ConnectHD? I never upgraded to Neo as it didn't really provide anything I didn't have with ConnectHD, but now I want to get back on the upgrade path and there doesn't seem to be one!

Thanks

Simon

[David Taylor]

I just added an upgrade from Connect HD to Neo Scene as an order option for $99. Click on Neo Scene to purchase, and the upgrade order options from Neo HDV or Connect HD will be visible.

[John Cline]

I just read the .PDF documentation for NEO Scene and, although it is implied, it does not specifically state that NEO Scene uses a VFW-compatible Cineform codec. Will NEO Scene allow me to decode and encode 1920x1080-60i Cineform .AVI files in VFW-only applications like Virtual Dub?

Also, I currently use v3.3.0 Cineform codec in Vegas v8.0c on all my intermediate files, including 720x480 SD footage, does NEO Scene support all standard resolutions up to 1920x1080, or just 1440x1080 and 1920x1080.

Does installing the v346b NEO Player update "break" 1440x1080 encoding in Vegas?

Thanks,
John Cline